Beyond the Middle Passage: Selected Poetry

Beyond the Middle Passage deals with a range of issues affecting the lives of black people in the Caribbean and elsewhere. It presents a Caribbean setting as most of the experiences refer to life in that part of the world. Though there are several theories relating to why the plights of black people are as they are, the author highlights what he thinks are powerful reasons and arguments for the apparent state of malaise, as he sought through poetry to document the social, spiritual, economic, psychological, and political factors impinging on their existence over the years. It also hopes to inspire people to find creative ways out of their present situations. The middle passage is the term used to describe the sea journey of native West Africans who were captured, sold into slavery, and transported from their homeland across the Atlantic to the New World in tightly packed slave ships. This was a horrendous journey in which many died on account of diseases and inhumane conditions aboard the slave ships.